Considering too few alternatives: The mental model theory of extensional reasoning

When solving a simple probabilistic problem, people tend to build an incomplete mental representation. We observe this pattern in responses to probabilistic problems over a set of premises using the conjunction, disjunction, and conditional propositional connectives. The mental model theory of extensional reasoning explains this bias towards underestimating the number of possibilities: In reckoning with different interpretations of the premises (logical rules, mental model theoretical, and, specific to conditional premises, conjunction and biconditional interpretation) the mental model theory accounts for the majority of observations. Different interpretations of a premise result in a build-up of mental models that are often incomplete. These mental models are processed using either an extensional strategy relying on proportions amongst models, or a conflict monitoring strategy. The consequence of considering too few possibilities is an erroneous probability estimate akin to that faced by decision makers who fail to generate and consider all alternatives, a characteristic of bounded rationality. We compare our results to the results published by Johnson-Laird, Legrenzi, Girotto, Legrenzi, and Caverni [Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 62 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]–88 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. doi:10 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar].1037 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/0033 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]-295X Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar].106 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar].1 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar].62 Johnson-Laird, P., Legrenzi, P., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, M., &; Caverni, J. (1999). Naive probability: A mental model theory of extensional reasoning. Psychological Review, 106, 62–88. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.62[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]], and we observe lower performance levels than those in the original article.     

SNARC (spatial–numerical association of response codes) meets SPARC (spatial–pitch association of response codes): Automaticity and interdependency in compatibility effects

Concepts, including the mental number line, or addressing pitch as high and low, suggest that the spatial–numerical and spatial–pitch association of response codes (SNARC and SPARC) effects are domain-specific and thus independent. Alternatively, there may be dependencies between these effects, because they share common automatic or controlled decision mechanisms. In two experiments, participants were presented with spoken numbers in different pitches; their numerical value, pitch, and response compatibility were varied systematically. This allowed us to study SNARC and SPARC effects in a factorial design (see also Fischer, Riello, Giordano, &; Rusconi, 2013 Fischer, M. H., Riello, M., Giordano, B. L., &; Rusconi, E. (2013). Singing numbers?…?in cognitive space--a dual-task study of the link between pitch, space, and numbers. Topics in Cognitive Science, 5(2), 354–366. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12017[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants judged the stimuli on numerical magnitude, pitch, or parity (odd–even). In all tasks, the SNARC and SPARC effects had superadditive interactions. These were interpreted as both effects sharing a common mechanism. The task variation probes the mechanism: In the magnitude judgement task, numerical magnitude was explicit, whereas pitch was implicit; in the pitch judgement task, it was vice versa. In the parity judgement task, both dimensions were implicit. Regardless of whether they were implicit or explicit, both SNARC and SPARC effects occurred in all tasks. We concluded that by not requiring focal attention the common mechanism operates automatically.     

The Rediscovery of Bifactor Measurement Models

Bifactor latent structures were introduced over 70 years ago, but only recently has bifactor modeling been rediscovered as an effective approach to modeling construct-relevant multidimensionality in a set of ordered categorical item responses. I begin by describing the Schmid-Leiman bifactor procedure (Schmid &; Leiman, 1957 Schmid, J. 1957. The comparability of the bi-factor and second-order factor patterns. Journal of Experimental Education, 25: 249–253. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and highlight its relations with correlated-factors and second-order exploratory factor models. After describing limitations of the Schmid-Leiman, 2 newer methods of exploratory bifactor modeling are considered, namely, analytic bifactor (Jennrich &; Bentler, 2011 Jennrich, R. I. and Bentler, P. M. 2011. Exploratory bi-factor analysis. Psychometrika, 76: 537–549. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and target bifactor rotations (Reise, Moore, &; Maydeu-Olivares, 2011 Reise, S. P., Moore, T. M. and Maydeu-Olivares, A. 2011. Targeted bifactor rotations and assessing the impact of model violations on the parameters of unidimensional and bifactor models. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 71: 684–711. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Then I discuss limited- and full-information estimation approaches to confirmatory bifactor models that have emerged from the item response theory and factor analysis traditions, respectively. Comparison of the confirmatory bifactor model to alternative nested confirmatory models and establishing parameter invariance for the general factor also are discussed. Finally, important applications of bifactor models are reviewed. These applications demonstrate that bifactor modeling potentially provides a solid foundation for conceptualizing psychological constructs, constructing measures, and evaluating a measure's psychometric properties. However, some applications of the bifactor model may be limited due to its restrictive assumptions.     

The Effect of Action Valence and Race on 3- to 8-Year-Old Children's Social Cognitive Judgments

The present study investigated children's judgments of actions as a function of the valence of the action and the race of the actor. Three- to 8-year-old children were read an illustrated storybook in which 1 character did not share (a negatively valenced action) and the other character was helpful (a positively valenced action). The race of the characters was manipulated such that in the story, there was 1 Black character and 1 White character. Children were asked to make judgments about how mean/nice the characters were and what consequence (reward or punishment) they should receive for their actions. Despite the fact that children of this age show explicit and implicit pro-White biases (e.g., Baron & Banaji, 2006 Baron, A. S., & Banaji, M. R. (2006). The development of implicit attitudes: Evidence of race evaluations from ages 6 and 10 and adulthood. Psychological Science, 17, 53–58. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01664.x[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), children's judgments were based solely on the valence of action and not on character race. The findings are discussed in light of moral development and the development of bias as it pertains to race.     

Implicit and Explicit Sexual Motives as Related,But Distinct Characteristics

A measure of implicit sexual motives—the implicit AMORE—was constructed employing the Affect Misattribution Procedure (Payne, Cheng, Govorun, &; Stewart, 2005 Payne, B. K., Cheng, C. M., Govorun, O., &; Stewart, B. D. (2005). An inkblot for attitudes: Affect misattribution as implcit measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 277–293. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.277[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Subscales paralleled the 8 dimensions identified previously by the self-report measure of sexual motives, the explicit AMORE (Hill &; Preston, 1996 Hill, C. A., &; Preston, L. K. (1996). Individual differences in the experience of sexual motivation: Theory and measurement of dispositional sexual motives. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 27–45. doi:10.1080/00224499609551812[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the proposed 8-factor model in slightly revised form, which was confirmed based on a second independent set of participants. Consistent with hypotheses, the implicit scales correlated with nonconscious erotica-viewing behavior for women in a laboratory setting. In contrast to explicit scales, implicit scales were unrelated to self-report ratings of likely sexual behavior. Finally, self-reports of aspects of sexual behavior were generally associated with the measures of implicit motives independently of corresponding explicit motives for both women and men. The results support the conception of implicit sexual motives as related, but distinct from explicit sexual motives.     

Personality Factors Associated With Psychological Distress in Testicular Cancer Survivors

The aim of this study was to investigate symptoms of anxiety and depression in testicular cancer survivors (TCSs) and to identify personality traits associated with psychological distress in these patients by means of the MMPI (Hathaway &; McKinley, 1943 Hathaway, S. R. and McKinley, J. C. 1943. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.  [Google Scholar]). A total of 50 TCSs and 50 age-adjusted healthy men participated in the study, and we used the following self-report instruments: Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale (Montgomery &; Asberg, 1979 Montgomery, S. and Åsberg, M. 1979. A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134: 382–389. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1959 Hamilton, M. 1959. The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32: 50–55. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1969 Hamilton, M. 1969. Diagnosis and rating of anxiety. British Journal of Psychiatry, 3: 76–79.  [Google Scholar]), Spielberger's State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1970 Spielberger, C. D. 1970. “Anxiety as an emotional state”. In Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research, Edited by: Spielberger, C. New York: Academic.  [Google Scholar], 2005 Spielberger, C. D. 2005. State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for adults, Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden.  [Google Scholar]), and the MMPI. TCSs displayed higher rates on all psychopathology scales studied compared to controls, but the majority of the patients' scores were within the “normal range,” indicating rather mild psychological distress. TCSs' MMPI profiles showed higher rates on Scales 1, 3, 6, and 9 compared to controls; and within the TCSs sample, symptoms of depression were most closely associated with Scales 3 and 5. Similarly, anxiety symptoms were mainly associated with Scale 3. These findings indicate that TCSs present mild symptoms of psychological distress, mainly anxiety and depressive symptoms, suggesting that careful assessment and consultation in TC patients is essential to help them deal with distress after treatment and to minimize possible risk factors.     

Reconstructing Recent Work on Macrosocial Stress as a Research Program

We reconstruct recent work on macrosocial stress (Chou, Parmar, &; Galinsky, 2016 Chou, E. Y., Parmar, B. L., &; Galinsky, A. D. (2016). Economic insecurity increases physical pain. Psychological Science, 27, 434–454. doi:10.1177/0956797615625640[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as if it were an instance of a research strategy that tests point-alternative hypotheses within a full-fledged research program. Because this strategy is free of various deficits that beset dominant strategies (e.g., meta-analysis, Bayes factor analysis), our article demonstrates one way in which the confidence crisis may be overcome.     

Individual Differences in Mediators and Reactions to a Personal Safety Threat Message

Individual differences in processing information about a personal threat message about bisphenol A (BPA) risk were examined using the threat orientation model (Thompson &; Schlehofer, 2008 Thompson , S. C. , &; Schlehofer , M. M. ( 2008 ). Control, denial, and heightened sensitivity reactions to personal threat: Testing the generalizability of the threat orientation approach . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 34 , 1070 – 1083 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Adults (N = 448) read a risk message concerning BPA in plastics. Threat orientations, intentions to protect oneself from BPA risk, and emotional and cognitive reactions to the message were measured. Individuals with different approaches to threat reached different conclusions about the message and used different information in that process. These findings suggest that consideration of individual differences could improve the predictive ability of existing theoretical models and the effectiveness of health and safety messages.     

Effects of Film Music on Psychological Transportation and Narrative Persuasion

Two experiments examined the effect of film music on the narrative persuasion. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a short film with its original musical soundtrack or with soundtrack muted. In Experiment 2, musical soundtrack was added to a film that was originally produced without music. Findings indicated that participants reported greater transportation into the film and greater agreement with film-relevant beliefs when soundtrack was presented but only when music was congruent with the film's affective tone. In support of the transportation-imagery model (Green &; Brock, 2000 Green , M. C. , &; Brock , T. C. ( 2000 ). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 79 , 701 – 721 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the effect of film music on beliefs was mediated by transportation into the film.     

The Nature and Consequences of Group Cohesion in a Military Sample

The 1st objective of this study was to explore the dimensionality of the work-adapted version of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron, Widmeyer, &; Brawley, 1985 Carron, A. V., Widmeyer, W. N. and Brawley, L. R. 1985. The development of an instrument to assess cohesion in sport teams: The Group Environment Questionnaire.. Journal of Sport Psychology, 7: 244–266. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in a military setting. The 2nd was to investigate how group cohesion relates to job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological distress. To this end, 447 Canadian military employees who worked in units completed the GEQ, along with measures of job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological distress. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the hypothesized 4-factor model of the GEQ provided a better fit to the data than did alternative models. A path analysis indicated that perceptions of task-related cohesion were predictive of job satisfaction, whereas dimensions of cohesion reflecting attraction to the group were inversely associated with psychological distress. The relevance of social identity with respect to psychological dimensions and correlates of group cohesion is discussed.     

Immediate Psychological Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Symptoms of PTSD and Coping Skills

Five hundred eighty-eight participants completed the Short Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT; Connor &; Davidson, 2001 Connor, K. and Davidson, J. 2001. SPRINT: A brief global assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16(5): 279–284. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997 Carver, C. S. 1997. You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1): 92–100. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to determine the psychological impacts and coping styles of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Gulf Coast residents. Participants were divided into at-risk and nonrisk groups based on their occupations. Results indicated that 28% of the respondents scored above the SPRINT cutoff score, indicating significant levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Furthermore, the Brief COPE results revealed that the at-risk group showed a negative correlation between active coping and the level of PTSD-related symptoms. The at-risk respondents also showed negative correlations of PTSD-related symptoms with coping strategies such as acceptance, planning, positive reframing, humor, and religion. Future research directions are also discussed.     

Interference Control in Children with First Episode Major Depression: A Brief Report

The ability to deal with sources of conflict, that is, interference control, was evaluated in a group of 11 children with first episode Major Depression and a peer control group. To this end, the Eriksen and Schultz (1979 Eriksen, C. W. and Schulz, D. W. 1979. Information processing in visual search: A continuous flow conception and experimental results. Perception and Psychophysics, 25: 249–263. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) task was used. Here, the participant is presented with a stimulus that simultaneously activates two conflicting response channels: One response is activated by the instructions, whereas the other response is activated by elements in the array that strongly invite an alternative — yet incorrect — response. Findings provided no evidence for an undisturbed interference control nor impaired overall processing speed in children with first episode Major Depression.     

Processing of musical structure by high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Enhanced pitch perception and memory have been cited as evidence of a local processing bias in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This bias is argued to account for enhanced perceptual functioning (Mottron &; Burack, 2001 Mottron, L. and Burack, J. A. 2001. “Enhanced perceptual functioning in the development of autism”. In The development of autism: Perspectives from theory to research, Edited by: Burack, J. A., Charman, T., Yirmiya, N. and Zelazo, P. R. 131–147. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.  [Google Scholar]; Mottron, Dawson, Soulières, Hubert, &; Burack, 2006 Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulières, I., Hubert, B. and Burack, J. 2006. Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: An update, and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1): 27–43. doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0040-7[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and central coherence theories of ASD (Frith, 1989 Frith, U. 1989. Autism: Explaining the enigma, Oxford: United Kingdom: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]; Happé &; Frith, 2006 Happé, F. and Frith, U. 2006. The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1): 5–25. doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). A local processing bias confers a different cognitive style to individuals with ASD (Happé, 1999 Happé, F. 1999. Autism: Cognitive deficit or cognitive style?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3(6): 216–222. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01318-2[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), which accounts in part for their good visuospatial and visuoconstructive skills. Here, we present analogues in the auditory domain, audiotemporal or audioconstructive processing, which we assess using a novel experimental task: a musical puzzle. This task evaluates the ability of individuals with ASD to process temporal sequences of musical events as well as various elements of musical structure and thus indexes their ability to employ a global processing style. Musical structures created and replicated by children and adolescents with ASD (10–19 years old) and typically developing children and adolescents (7–17 years old) were found to be similar in global coherence. Presenting a musical template for reference increased accuracy equally for both groups, with performance associated to performance IQ and short-term auditory memory. The overall pattern of performance was similar for both groups; some puzzles were easier than others and this was the case for both groups. Task performance was further found to be correlated with the ability to perceive musical emotions, more so for typically developing participants. Findings are discussed in light of the empathizing-systemizing theory of ASD (Baron-Cohen, 2009 Baron-Cohen, S. 2009. Autism: The Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) Theory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156: 68–80. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04467.x[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the importance of describing the strengths of individuals with ASD (Happé, 1999 Happé, F. 1999. Autism: Cognitive deficit or cognitive style?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3(6): 216–222. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01318-2[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Heaton, 2009 Heaton, P. 2009. Assessing musical skills in autistic children who are not savants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, 364: 1443–1447. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0327[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Reducing Muslim/Arab Stereotypes Through Evaluative Conditioning

ABSTRACT

This study replicated and extended Olson and Fazio (2006 Olson, M. A. and Fazio, R. H. 2006. Reducing automatically activated racial prejudice through implicit evaluative conditioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32: 421–433. doi:10.1177/0146167205284004[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by testing whether evaluative conditioning is a means to reduce negative stereotypes about Muslim and other Arab persons. Specifically, evaluative conditioning was hypothesized to lower implicit biases against Muslim and Arab persons. The FreeIAT was used to measure implicit biases. Participants in the evaluative conditioning group showed a significant lowering in implicit biases. Explicit measures of bias were not affected by the conditioning procedure.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adulthood Parenting: The Mediating Role of Intimate Partner Violence

This study examined the role of intimate partner victimization in mediating the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adulthood parenting in a community sample of mothers reliant on public assistance (N = 483). Baron and Kenny's (1986 Baron, R. M. and Kenny, D. A. 1986. The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51: 1173–1182. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) method for establishing mediation was used to address this question. A recent history of intimate partner violence mediated the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and psychological aggression; however, a lifetime history of intimate partner violence did not. Depressive symptomatology was found to mediate the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and parental warmth. The impact of childhood sexual abuse on corporal punishment was indirect through its association with childhood physical abuse and witnessing domestic violence. Implications for research, theory development, and practice are provided.     

Validation of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale in College Students

ABSTRACT

Impulsive (IA) and premeditated (PM) aggression reflect functions of aggressive behavior that may have differential correlates and clinical utility. The purpose of this study was to extend the use of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS) for characterizing aggression in a college student sample. Three hundred forty students completed the IPAS, Buss and Perry's (1992) Buss, A. H. and Perry, M. 1992. The Aggression Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63: 452–459. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), and measures of childhood maltreatment and negative life events. Principal components analyses supported reliable IA and PM factors. The degree of IA was significantly higher than that of PM. Convergent validity for the IA scale was supported with significant relationships with certain AQ scales. Implications for studying aggressive functions in this age group may inform violence prevention and treatment on college campuses.     

Neuropsychological Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Approach System (BAS) Assessment: A Shortened Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire Version (SPSRQ–20)

This research was designed to investigate the items and factor structure of the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ) proposed by Torrubia, Avila, Moltó, and Caseras (2001 Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L. and Lushene, R. E. 1970. Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory., Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.  [Google Scholar]), as a measure of the behavioral inhibition system and behavioral activation system in Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory. Recent studies that analyzed this instrument by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis suggest the need for structural refinement. The Spanish version of the SPSRQ was analyzed by exploratory and confirmatory procedures in calibration (n = 2,102) and validation (n = 746) independent samples. In addition, convergent and discriminant validity was evaluated with the Zuckerman–Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Teta, Joireman, &; Kraft, 1993 Torrubia, R. and Tobeña, A. 1984. A scale for the assessment of susceptibility to punishment as a measure of anxiety: Preliminary results. Personality and Individual Differences, 5: 371–375. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the Impulsiveness, Venturesomeness and Empathy Inventory (S. B. G. Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, &; Allsopp, 1985 Eysenck, S. B. G., Pearson, P. R., Easting, G. and Allsopp, F. J. 1985. Age norms for impulsiveness, venturesomeness and empathy in adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 6: 613–619. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) the Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness Five Factor Inventory (Costa &; McCrae, 1992 Costa, P. T. and McCrae, R. R. 1992. NEO–PI–R professional manual: Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO–PI–R) and NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI), Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.  [Google Scholar]), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scales (Barratt, 1985 Ball, S. and Zuckerman, M. 1990. Sensation seeking, Eysenck's personality dimensions and reinforcement sensitivity in concept formation. Personality and Individual Differences, 11: 343–355. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Results showed the robustness of a 20-item structure of the SPSRQ, with satisfactory fit adjustment, validity, and reliability. The findings are discussed in terms of the better functioning and sound psychometric properties of the SPSRQ 20-item version for Gray's personality theory.     

Matching Methods for Selection of Participants for Follow-Up

This work examines ways to make the best use of limited resources when selecting individuals to follow up in a longitudinal study estimating causal effects. In the setting under consideration, covariate information is available for all individuals but outcomes have not yet been collected and may be expensive to gather, and thus only a subset of the comparison participants are followed. Expressions in Rubin and Thomas (1996) Rubin, D. B. and Thomas, N. 1996. Matching using estimated propensity scores, relating theory to practice.. Biometrics, 52: 249–264. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] show the benefits that can be obtained, in terms of reduced bias and variance of the estimated treatment effect, of selecting comparison individuals well matched to those in the treated group compared with a random sample of comparison individuals. We primarily consider nonexperimental settings but also consider implications for randomized trials. The methods are illustrated using data from the Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Prevention Program, which included data collection from age 6 to young adulthood of participants in an evaluation of 2 early elementary-school-based universal prevention programs.     

A Conceptual-Theoretical-Empirical Framework for Self-Forgiveness: Implications for Research and Practice

Self-forgiveness literature has grown in depth and breadth since its inception in 1974. In 2005, Hall and Fincham proposed a conceptual process model of self-forgiveness. In approximately 10 years, there have been considerable advancements in conceptual understanding and empirical findings but less refinement of a theoretical framework. This article outlines a Conceptual-Theoretical-Empirical (C-T-E) framework to explain the origins, processes, and ethical limitations of self-forgiveness; to refine the definition of self-forgiveness; and to improve upon Hall and Fincham's (2005 Hall, J. H. &; Fincham F. D. (2005). Self-forgiveness: The stepchild of forgiveness research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 621–637. doi:10.1521/jscp.2005.24.5.621[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) model. This C-T-E framework provides a social-cognitive theoretical structure to direct future research and therapeutic practice.